Cole-Hamilton: Thousands waiting for care at home need support now 

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has called on the Scottish Government to get to grips with the crisis in social care by providing proper support for staff and services, after new figures showed that nearly 10,000 people are waiting to either be assessed for care at home or to have a care package arranged.  

Figures from Public Health Scotland show that as of 4th November 2024:

• 6,027 people are estimated to be waiting for a social care assessment.
• 3,281 people have been assessed and are waiting for a care at home package.

Mr Cole Hamilton said:  

“There is a crisis in our social care system which needs resolved now, not in a few years down the line as part of a centralising ministerial takeover of social care.

“For four years, the SNP have wasted £30 million on a bureaucratic power grab- the equivalent of the annual salary of 1,200 care workers. It is money that should have been spent on care staff and service users, on fixing community care so that people can leave hospital on time.

“This doomed takeover should be scrapped, not salvaged, and ministers must waste no time in investing in staff and services now.”